New Life for Two Frequently Dormant Epcot Pavilions?-- Updated: 3/21/18

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New Life for Two Frequently Dormant Epcot Pavilions?-- Updated: 3/21/18

3/21/18

More information has become public regarding the future of the Wonders of Life pavilion. A recent job posting for Walt Disney Imagineering indicates plans for a major redesign of the pavilions interior:

"We create happiness.” That’s our motto at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. And it permeates everything we do. At Disney, you’ll help inspire that magic by enabling our teams to push the limits of entertainment and create the never-before-seen!

Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management, and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company. Its talented corps of Imagineers is responsible for the creation - from concept initiation through installation - of all Disney Resorts, theme parks and attractions, real estate developments, regional entertainment venues, and new media projects.

Works under the supervision of a more senior designer to develop the design intent of an interior environment. This could include all aspects of design from concept through working drawings as well as working knowledge of all Epcot, Florida & ADA Code issues. Depending on the size and scope of the project, an Interior Designer could take a lead position, working closely with the Creative Design team and Architecture to conceptualize and develop interior spaces.

Responsibilities

Provide support to the project team for design and implementation of assigned projects; support implementation of design intent as a member of the project design team.
Develop varied Interior Design project work at all stages of assigned projects from concept, feasibility or schematic design through the preparation of construction documentation in accordance with established departmental and divisional quality standards.
Ensure that the interior design intent is achieved by successfully integrating design with allied disciplines, such as architecture, lighting, graphics, structural engineering, and MEP.
Interface with Operations, Merchandise and F&B teams for inclusion of their requirements into the design.
Responsible for the design and production of a shop/restaurant or attraction under the direction of a Senior or Principal ID
Supervise and give direction clearly to support interior design staff extensions and/or consultants.
Capable of coordinating interior design efforts preparing Narrative Scope definitions, provide man-hour estimates to achieve Scope of Work and manage project budgets and schedules.
Interior Designers serve as the link between park operations and the Design Team.
Work closely with Architecture to create the optimum plan to accommodate seating or casework requirements.
...

Basic Qualifications

Minimum of 3 years’ experience at WDI or other Architectural/Interiors firms.
Must have commercial design experience, primarily in Retail or Hospitality.
...
General knowledge of the use of CADD/REVIT technology and illustration tools such as Creative Suite, Illustrator, and Photoshop having the ability to graphically represent the design concept to the team or client.
Understanding of construction details, particularly casework detailing.

While this posting does not give detail to the exact plans, it does indicate a major re-design of the pavilions interior.

3/6/18

The general manager of Epcot festivals has announced to local media a re-purposing of the Odyssey pavilion to a more year-round operation:

Originally Posted by Orlando Sentinel

Disney World: Epcot's Odyssey in remodeling mode

by Dewayne Bevil
Orlando Sentinel
March 6, 2018

A former Epcot restaurant is getting a makeover that will cement its role as a flexible-use space for the Walt Disney World theme park. Odyssey, the angular building sandwiched between the park’s Mexico pavilion and Test Track attraction, will have a wide array of ever-changing purposes as Epcot expands, says Dave Kesting, general manager of Epcot festivals.

“We’ll look at all our open venues and see what priorities we need to have for the park. So it’s going to be flex space for whatever we need it to be,” Kesting says. “It could be a restaurant one day, it could be a merchandise shop the next day, it could be character greeting -- whatever we need to be.”

The Odyssey structure, which opened with the park in 1982, currently is undergoing a “light remodel,” Kesting says. The result will be a more permanent solution for temporary tenants. In recent months, the space has been used for demonstrations and exhibits during the Epcot International Festival of the Arts and a craft-beer stop for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.

It’s dark during the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, currently running daily through May 28. But it’s not as dark as it used to be. The large black panels on its exterior have been subbed out with less opaque glass.

“Now people can see inside,” Kesting says. “So, like in the Festival of the Arts, ‘Hey, there’s an animators class going on. Hey, there are great displays and artists working and there’s programming in this place.’

“And the folks inside will see the beautiful park from the inside, instead of being in what we call a black box.”

With this potential addition for future festival space, it is also of note that the Wonders of Life pavilion did not return as the Festival Center for the 2018 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. It has not been announced what the future use for this space would be or why it is not operating during the festival, but the aforementioned comments could indicate a trend toward more year-round "flex-use" spaces.

Ack!! They used a dirty work in that description -- REVIT!!!! Anyone who has skills with native REVIT deserves a boatload of $$$$ You would have thought, after all the years Autodesk has had the package, they could have integrated it better (or at all, really,) with Inventor!!

That's kind of what I do...Programmatic drawings and models for sales and site contractors. My REVIT connection has been mainly creating Inventor models to be translated into REVIT. We have 2 people working directly in REVIT -- 1 using an application to output native REVIT and the other trying (keyword: TRYING) to programmatically create native REVIT models through the API.